


Flower Gleam And Glow

by A_Tomb_With_A_View



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV 2020)
Genre: Alex Mercer Has Anxiety (Julie and the Phantoms), Fluff, M/M, Reggie Peters Has Fibromyalgia (Julie and The Phantoms), Reggie has fibromyalgia, god so much fluff, sickening amounts of fluff honestly, they’re so soft, well willie’s is tying his hair up so his bf can appreciate him, your love language is physical affection?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-19
Updated: 2021-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-28 10:35:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30138270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Tomb_With_A_View/pseuds/A_Tomb_With_A_View
Summary: Alex had never really thought he’d had a thing for long hair before he’d met Willie. It wasn’t that he didn’t think that guys with long hair were attractive, because god he’d seen some attractive guys with long hair in his time, it was more he didn’t think it was something that made them more attractive, instead of an additional feature for an already stunning boy.Watching Willie’s hair tumble out of their helmet and down their shoulders as he tucked it behind his ear definitely changed his mind.Then Willie started tying their hair up.
Relationships: Alex Mercer/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Bobby | Trevor Wilson & Alex Mercer & Julie Molina & Luke Patterson & Reggie Peters & Willie, Bobby | Trevor Wilson & Alex Mercer & Luke Patterson & Reggie Peters, Bobby | Trevor Wilson/Reggie Peters, Julie Molina/Luke Patterson
Comments: 15
Kudos: 155





	Flower Gleam And Glow

**Author's Note:**

> Heyo kids!  
> This is my first attempt at a 5+1 so who knows if I did it right, but let me know what you think!  
> Disclaimer: fibro and anxiety stuff is all based off me  
> Enjoy!

Alex had never really thought he’d had a thing for long hair before he’d met Willie. It wasn’t that he didn’t think that guys with long hair were attractive, because _god_ he’d seen some attractive guys with long hair in his time, it was more he didn’t think it was something that made them _more_ attractive, instead of an additional feature for an already stunning boy. 

Watching Willie’s hair tumble out of their helmet and down their shoulders as he tucked it behind his ear definitely changed his mind. 

From there, he’d thought Willie with his hair down was and would forever be the prettiest thing he’d ever seen. Willie didn’t seem to much like tying his hair up anyway, always having it either down or tucked away, and never really put up, the way Julie seemed to prefer it, so Alex just assumed it was partially because Willie felt he looked his best with his hair down, which was easy to believe considering how fuckingn gorgeous he looked like that. 

Then Willie started tying their hair up. 

i.

Alex was pretty sure he was going to _die_. He’d never been good with the heat, always preferring to try and find a spot in the shade than join Reggie and Bobby and Luke in the sun, and even when he’d grown out of burning in thirty seconds, he’d never really reached a point where he started tanning, like Luke and Bobby, or gaining freckles everywhere like Reggie, instead of slowly but surely getting pinker and pinker, tan not coming through until the red had faded, so he’d never really found anything redeeming about being out in the sun. 

Sitting in Julie’s garage trying his best to keep drumming when even Bobby had reached the point of shedding his shirt, something he rarely did, while sweat crowded his hairline and stuck his shorts to his legs was quite possibly the most uncomfortable thing he’d ever done, including accidentally announcing that he was gay halfway through the weekly family board game night, when his dad started pressuring him for which room of cluedo he wanted to enter.

“Fuck it, I’m calling time,” Luke announced as soon as they finished _Bright_ , tossing his guitar onto the couch with way less care than usual. “I have officially lost the ability to think.”

“Didn’t know you could do that to start with,” Alex joked automatically, making grabby hands at Julie until she tossed him a water bottle. “God, it’s so fucking hot.”

“I wanna die,” Bobby agreed, raking a hand through his hair. “And maybe fight God.”

“Nothing new there, then,” Willie commented, standing up from where they’d been perched on the coffee table. “For once I actually support that, though.”

“Hey,” Julie complained, letting her hair down so she could tie it up again, tighter. “You’re supposed to be on my side. Y’know, the side with some actual common sense?” 

“I don’t have common sense anymore, it’s all evaporated. All gone,” Willie replied, beckoning Alex over until he heaved himself up off his stool and made it to Willie’s side. “Wait, no stop. You’re gonna be gross, I just missed you.”

Alex felt his cheeks burn, and he stuck his tongue out at Bobby and Reggie, who were making kissy faces. “So, I moved all this way just so you could tell me I’m gross?” 

“And that I missed you.” Willie patted his shoulder gingerly. “I would kiss you, but I’m just. If I touch another human right now for longer than a second I’m going to melt.”

Alex tipped his head in acknowledgement. “Oh, that’s fair. I still want a kiss, though. Maybe just a quick one?” 

Willie rolled their eyes, but their smile was fond as they leaned over to kiss Alex lightly. “There you go. Happy now?” 

“Absolutely,” Alex confirmed, playing with a section of Willie’s hair. “Honestly, though, I don’t know how you’re not boiling with your hair down.”

Willie groaned. “Don’t even go there, love. I broke my last hair tie trying to put it up on my way here.” 

“Poor baby,” Alex sympathised, tucking the strand behind Willie’s ear. He’d never really seen Willie with his hair tied up, but as gorgeous as Willie always was, he was sure their hair definitely played into it to a degree, so as much as he felt for his boyfriend and how hot they probably felt, the sympathy only extended so far. 

“Oh, I’ve got a million scrunchies dotted around in here,” Julie interjected, holding up a sparkly purple one. “You can borrow one if you want?”

“Oh my god, you’re a lifesaver, and I swear I’ll dedicate my firstborn child to you,” Willie promised immediately, taking the scrunchie off her.

Alex snorted, watching fondly as Willie held the scrunchie up like some kind of holy grail. “Oh yeah? Your firstborn child, huh? Where’s the woman you’re leaving me for? Is it Carrie? If you’re leaving me for the lesbian twin sister of my best friend, I’m suing for emotional damages” 

Willie rolled their eyes, shoving the scrunchie on their wrist and gathering their hair in one hand. “Shush, you, or _I’m_ suing for slander and defamation of character.” 

Bobby whistled lowly from where he’d sprawled out on the couch, pinky linked loosely with Reggie’s, who’d decided to go for a Hail Mary and sit on the floor in front of the now open fridge. “Is this what you guys are calling flirting, now?” 

Alex shot him a withering look. “As if you don’t threaten to divorce Reg twice a week for drinking the last of the milk.”

“He’s the idiot who married me in Vegas on his eighteenth.” Bobby shrugged unapologetically. “If he wanted a slightly less abrasive husband then he should’ve made better choices. Probably just should’a drunk less absinthe.”

“Thanks, sweetheart,” Reggie drawled, kissing Bobby’s palm and snickering when he pulled a face. “That's what I tell all the guys in my calculus class when they ask about my ring. “Oh, this? It’s a symbol of the horrible mistake I made when me and the rhythm guitarist of my band decided to see how true the rumours about absinthe are while in Vegas.” They all think we’re real romantics.”

Alex turned to Willie to exchange eye rolls, but found himself staring instead, jaw going slack as he watched Willie pick out a couple of loose strands from his hairline to frame his face, the rest of their hair tucked into a messy bun. 

They looked…

Quite frankly they looked fucking resplendent. 

A hand pushed his jaw up so his teeth clacked together forced him back to the present. “You’re staring, blondie,” Luke whispered, patting Alex’s cheek in a way that was patently Luke - a weird mesh of sincerely adoring and utterly patronising - then moved back to resume staring at Julie like she was creating matter with her bare hands.

Alex wouldn’t put it past her, honestly, but he had bigger things to focus on, like how his brain was skittering to a halt every time he looked at Willie. 

“Lexi?” Willie poked his nose lightly, concern melting away to make way for a pleased smile when Alex made eye contact. “Alex, dandelion, you okay? You went all… spaced out, there, for a second.” 

Alex blinked, swallowing roughly. “Uhm. Yeah - I. Um. Yeah, I’m okay.” 

“He’s just gay,” Reggie called from the floor. “Which, valid, but also minorly embarassing for you, Al, not gonna lie.”

Alex raised his gaze heavenward and exhaled slowly. “Reginald, do we need to go into the time you broke your arm because Bobbers stole your skirt, or are we good?” 

Reggie sighed, and Alex could practically hear his sulky expression. “We’re good.” 

Willie’s smile grew into something that Alex would’ve probably called devious on anyone else. On Willie it was just fucking stunning. “Gay, Huh? You got a crush on me?”

Alex shoved his shoulder. “We’ve been dating for six months, Wilbur, if you start pulling this shit on me I’m gonna go buy an entire box of alcopops and eat them by myself, in my car, which has air con.”

“...Alex,” Julie singsonged, flashing him an imploring smile.

“I’m gonna go buy an entire box of alcopops and eat them with Julie, in my car, which has air con,” Alex corrected. 

Willie stuck their lower lip out. “Aw, but Primrose, then I’ll be lonely.” 

“Then don’t be mean,” Alex suggested, toying with the hem of Willie’s tank top. “And I’ll drive everyone to the beach.” 

“Even the kids?” They complained, shooting a glance at Reggie and Bobby, and Luke, who the former two had roped into playing darts with them, seemingly to build a cocktail with illegible ingredients scrawled on bits of paper on the dartboard. “Jules is understandable, I love her, but the _kids_? Really?” 

Alex sighed. “Yeah. It’ll be fine. Lukey will surf, Bobbers’ll bitch and moan until Nick eventually - telepathically - shows up, and then they’ll judge allo people making out together, and Reg will attempt to become a mermaid for at least half an hour, tire himself out, and then fall asleep on Bobbers. If we leave ‘em alone, they’ll probably burn down the garage.”

Willie sighed dramatically and grabbed Alex’s hand, fiddling with the pride bracelets on his wrist. “Do you think I can offer Luke to Jules as the promised firstborn, seeing as I’ve accidentally become their stepdad?” 

“I don’t think giving Lukey to Jules would make any difference,” Alex reminded them, eyes catching once again on Willie’s hair, mind shuddering as it attempted to pull an emergency brake until he reached out to smooth a stray flyaway behind their ear. “Ready to go?” 

“Oh,” Willie said brightly, cheeks colouring pink. “Gay. I get it now.”

Alex furrowed his eyebrows. “What?” 

Willie waved a hand. “I just got it. It’s the hair, right? That’s why you bluescreened?”

“God,” Luke remarked, chin resting on Julie’s shoulder, his arms wrapped around her middle. “You gays are _useless_.” 

ii.

Alex didn’t have an oral fixation. 

Sure, he liked biting things when he was stressed, but it wasn’t anything serious.

It wasn’t like Bobby, who could go from spaced out and jittery to reading a textbook for fun if he had something to chew on absently, as if it siphoned off some of his energy, or Luke, who naturally put whatever was in his hands in his mouth if it was small enough and strong enough to withstand it, and even sometimes if it wasn’t. It was just that the pen was _there_ , and their manager had called three times in the last half hour even though Alex had explained in all three calls that Julie and Luke weren’t in, and that he tried to have as little to do with lyrics as possible unless he’d actually written them, so he couldn’t help, and pressing his teeth down until the plastic of the biro started to give just a little before letting go was helping work off a little of that stress. 

“Hey, daffodil,” Willie murmured, dropping a kiss on the top of his head. “What’s up?” 

Alex groaned and tipped his head back, hoping he looked suitably pathetic to garner sympathy not laughter. “Kev called three times. Wouldn’t leave me alone.”

“Aw, bless,” they cooed, setting the pen on the table and cradling his jaw. “Mean manager not letting you wallow in peace?” 

“You’re horrible,” Alex told him, pushing his face into his hand anyway. “How was the shoot?” 

“It was good,” Willie hummed, kissing his temple, and then his nose. “Ray helped me work out the problem I was having with my shutter speed when I was trying to get these water splashes, so I retook the pictures I need for my coursework, and they came out way better.”

“Aw, yay.” Alex tugged at Willie’s shirt until he perched on Alex’s thigh, playing with the slight curl at the bottom of his hair. “That was really bugging you, I’m glad you got it fixed, babe. Wanna rant at me about shutter speed and water splash thingies?” 

“Nah, I’m good” Willie shook his head, then cracked a smile. “Okay, maybe.”

Alex grinned fondly, tilting his chin up until Willie obliged and leaned down to kiss him. “Go on, then.”

“So, I kept using a shutter speed of 1/1000, because that’s professor told me will freeze water and get all the funky little droplets, but it kept fucking up the focus,” Willie explained standing up so they could half-sit on the corner of the desk. “And then I was bitching about it to Ray, because there’s nothing like complaining to get you tight with the in-laws, and _he_ told me that if I’m doing bigger splashes like the ones I was using, then I should be using a shutter speed of 1/250, ‘cause it’ll help keep a bigger space in focus. And it’s cool and I’m glad I know it but it’s kind of annoying that no one mentioned it when our entire project centred around capturing moving water.”

“Oh.” Alex nodded slowly, doing his best to digest the information. “How come your professor didn’t tell you? Isn’t this the professor you liked?”

Willie shrugged. “Guess she wanted us to work it out for ourselves.”

“How rude,” Alex joked, tracing patterns on Willie’s leg with his finger, ignoring the way the texture of his jeans against his finger made his skin crawl. “At least you got the pictures now, though, and managed to get the information. I’m pretty sure asking Ray counts as checking with official sources.”

“Yeah, probably.” Willie hummed and picked the pen Alex had been chewing on off the table. “Anyway, what about you? You get that drumline sorted?” 

“No,” Alex admitted, sticking his lower lip out. “I got maybe half of it down pat, but then Kev called, and then I tried to call Lukey because responsibilities, but then he didn’t pick up and then Kev called me _again_ , and then I gave up.”

Willie hummed, slowly weaving the pen across their fingers like Alex had been teaching them to. “Wanna teach me the bit you’ve got?”

Alex gently wrapped his hands around Willie’s, adjusting the way they were holding the pen to make it spin around their fingers more easily. “You think you’re up for it?” He teased, kissing Willie’s wrist lightly when they spun the pen properly. 

Willie bumped his shoulder against Alex’s. “You don’t think I can do it?” They challenged, sweeping their hair off their shoulders and behind their ears.

“I’m not saying that,” Alex protested, cutting himself off when Willie twisted his hair into a sort of rope, then kept twisting until it sat in a coil, then pushed the pen through carefully. “There’s no way that's gonna-”

Willie let go of his hair and held both hands up as if to say _look! No hands!_ “There’s no way what’s gonna what?” 

Alex blinked, opening his mouth to respond before shutting it again. For one, he had no idea how the fuck Willie was getting their hair to stay up in a bun like that with only a pen. For two, they looked fucking incredible and Alex just wanted to kiss him, all thoughts of continuing a vaguely coherent conversation flying out the window. “Hm?” 

“Dork,” Willie said fondly, leaning in to kiss him. “I said, there’s no way what’s going what?” 

“Hair?” Alex asked, leaning forward a little when Willie pulled back. “How’s it. How’s your hair staying up?” 

Willie snorted. It shouldn’t have been anywhere near as cute as it was, god knows it wasn’t when Luke did it, two thirds into his second glass of wine with dinner, but his eyes were scrunched closed and his cheeks were faintly pink, and Alex was kissing him again before he even registered the urge to, cupping Willie’s cheek with one hand. There was always something about holding them that made Alex feel like he was being entrusted with some kind of honorable duty and set alight at the same time, as though someone had poured molten gold into his hands while telling him the worth down to the dollar. They were precious and invaluable and as blistered as touching him sometimes left Alex’s hands, it never occurred to him to let go. “Magic,” they informed him, smoothing their thumb over his cheekbone. “Or maybe physics.”

“Same thing,” Alex joked, scrunching his eyes shut when Willie kissed his nose. “No, seriously, how is it staying up? Does it work with everything? Does it work with all hair?” 

Willie grinned, ducking his head forward. “Oh my god, you’re so weird,” he said, voice so laden with fondness that Alex felt his cheeks burn. “I don’t know how it works, dandelion. I’ve never studied the physics of hair, I barely managed to stay awake through the velocity stuff even when Reggie went through it using skateboarding as an example, the physics of hair would’ve killed me.”

“Huh,” Alex remarked. “Well, it looks really pretty, however it works. Now, I believe you wanted me to teach you the drum bit?” 

Willie turned a faint pink. “You gonna hold my hands to show me what to do?” They stood up and offered Alex their hand, tugging him to his feet when he accepted.

Alex made his way to his drum kit, keeping his hand in Willie’s. “Oh, so this was all just a ploy to hold my hands? I see it, now.” 

“Oh, yeah. It’s my life’s goal,” Willie said seriously, expression cracking to make way for a bright smile when Alex paused before sitting down, pulling them in for a hug and dropping a kiss on the top of his head. He nearly poked his eye out with the pen speared through Willie’s bun, but it was definitely worth it.

“I love you, you dork.” 

Willie kissed his shoulder. “I love you too, crocus.”

iii. 

“So what, you want me to just stand here and try to look pretty?” Alex asked, feigning a dramatic pose. “Like this?” 

Willie giggled and tugged him down to kiss him briefly. “No, you idiot. I just want you to stand here. The pretty comes naturally to you.”

“Pretty comes more naturally to you,” Alex argued, winding his arms around Willie’s neck. “How come you’re not just painting your reflection?” 

Willie’s cheeks bloomed a delicate pink and he leaned forward until his face was buried in the crook of Alex’s neck. “Because it’s supposed to be a reimagining of ancient standards of beauty as something we as modern students find beautiful.” They leaned back enough for the kiss against Alex’s collarbone to feel purposeful. “You’re gonna be a statue of Venus, buttercup.”

“Oh my _god_ ,” Alex complained, crouching to wrap his arm around Willie’s knees and sling them over his shoulder. “Stop being sappy or I’m taking you home.”

“To do what?” Willie joked, pressed his cheek against Alex’s thigh. “Aggressive cuddle me and steal my favourite ice cream?” 

“Nope.” Alex grinned to himself. “To aggressively cuddle you with the huge mug of homemade hot chocolate I'm gonna blackmail Bobbers into making me, and I won’t share any of it with you.”

“Well, that’s just evil,” Willie said, words slow like they were on the verge of half asleep. “But I actually really need to get this project done, so I’m sorry for saying you’re naturally pretty, sunflower, and that you’re what I find beautiful, and that I’m reimagining you as the Roman goddess of beauty, you’re actually incredibly ugly, and a reimagining of Zeus being his dickhead slutty self as you in one of your titty shirts would be so much more appropriate. Still need to paint you, though.”

“I guess that’s okay.” Alex swayed slightly so Willie swung line a pendulum, relishing in the little giggle Willie let out. “I kinda like you here, though.”

“Thank you, baby. I swear I won’t make sure not to overstate your beauty,” Willie promised. “You’ll look perfectly ordinary.” 

Alex sighed and lowered Willie to the floor, kissing the corner of their mouth gently. “Thanks, Wilberforth. ‘Preciate it.” 

Willie smiled, adoration so prominent in the crease of his eyes and the flush of their cheeks that Alex was helpless to wind his arms around their waist. 

“What’s this for?” Willie asked, sitting down on his work table so his face was level with Alex’s chest. 

Alex rested his chin on Willie’s hair, taking a moment to just enjoy the feeling of them pressed against him, radiating heat and pressing gentle kisses against his shoulder, somehow perfectly sized to fit comfortably against him. 

Reggie’s words echoed in his mind. _It’s not that he was made to fit against me_. He’d said, sometime far enough into his eighteenth that he was plastered against Alex’s side, posture soft and tongue loose with years of friendship and maybe a little bit of alcohol, but not so far into it that it fell into the category of Things Alex Has Videos Of But Does Not Remember. Okay, so maybe a lot of alcohol, but maybe a lot of adoration, too, considering how he’d been unable to keep his eyes off of Bobby, who was dancing with the Flynn in the way only a guy several shots of absinthe and a proposal into a night out could, a strawberry shoelace tied in a neat bow around his left ring finger. _It’s that once I’d held him for the first time every part of me rewired until I was the perfect shape to hold him again._ That felt more….right. More them. 

Their first hug had been awkward, marred by guilt and too-hard-grips and not enough trust, and ever since then they’d been rebuilding and readjusting until Willie’s fingers weren’t digging into Alex’s shoulders too hard like he was afraid Alex would let go, and Alex trusted him to hold his weight entirely, and Alex couldn’t imagine anyone slotting against him so perfectly. 

It felt like when Julie and his boys - her boys, really. The way they belonged to her was different to how they belonged to each other. With each other it was less belonging and more that the fibres of their souls were so inextricably woven into Alex’s own that he didn’t exist as he was without them. With Julie, they found her, and they chose her. The four of them could survive without her, but he couldn’t imagine a version of reality where he’d want to - found their perfect layout, Alex and Bobby with a bit of distance between them to make sure they didn’t feel suffocated, pinkies linked or elbows pressed together, Luke and Reggie smushed against them like they were trying to fuse the four of them together. Julie picked her place depending on how she felt. It always seemed to work. She reminded him of Willie that way. He couldn’t imagine an eventuality where the way Willie held him wasn’t exactly the way he needed. “Dunno. Just wanted to.” 

They pulled him down to kiss him properly, then twisted their hair into a knot. Alex waited for him to slide a pen through, or twist a rubber band around it, but instead he simply let go and kissed both of Alex’s cheeks, then moved back. They stared at Alex impatiently like he was supposed to be understanding non-verbal cues when his grasp on conscious thought had been blown to smithereens. “Hm… okay, waterlily, can you tilt your chin up a bit for me?” 

“Absolutely not,” Alex replied automatically. “I’ve only just come to terms with the freaking pen, how the fuck is your hair staying up? Am I missing something or is there nothing holding it up?” 

Willie rolled their eyes, tilting Alex’s jaw the way they wanted it to and biting the end of their paintbrush. “Almost right… I don’t know what’s wrong.”

Alex shrugged, too busy trying to catch sight of Willie’s bun so he could figure out the mechanics of it to try and apply himself to posing.

“There!” Willie called, pressing their hand against his cheek, not to move him, just as a quiet reassurance that they were still there. The warmth that flooded Alex felt more like the way he imagined how Bobby described happiness felt than anything he’d felt before. Something about the way that Willie was constantly… not pandering, not quite so patronising, but catering, maybe, to his worries and fears and irrational concerns, was worth a million casual declarations of love, and god knew every single one of those made his heart clench and his brain whir. “Just stay there for me, dandelion.”

Alex nodded half heartedly, craning his neck anyway to try and work out how Willie’s hair was holding itself up anyway.

Willie sighed and leaned up on tiptoes to kiss his temple. “If I promise to show you how I do it once we’re done, will you stay still for me?” 

“Promise?” Alex echoed, holding up his pinky finger.

“Promise,” Willie reassured, gripping Alex’s pinky with his own. “Now shut the fuck up and do as I tell you, okay, baby?” 

Alex hummed his agreement, trying his best to stay still, and Willie sat down, still chewing on their paintbrush as they started sketching him out.

iv. 

Alex was pretty sure if anyone started stroking his hair, he was going to fall asleep and never wake up. 

He was sprawled out on the sofa, Willie laid half asleep on top of him with their ear pressed against Alex’s chest. He’d had definitely more vodka than was advisable, but timed it just right that instead of the panicky, overwhelming drop off into drunk that always made him wary of having too much, he’d eased into it. Bobby had stopped speaking English half an hour ago, babbling mindlessly to Reggie in French like any of the rest of them but Luke spoke a lick of it, and Luke was too busy staring dreamily at Julie as she swayed with Flynn to a song older than Alex’s parents’ house to translate. Alex himself had reached the point where Willie’s weight on top of him felt like his only tether to planet earth, keeping him grounded where otherwise he’d just float off, the warmth in his chest from his family around him making him feel too light to stay grounded on his own.

“Allie-Cat, I need your boyfriend,” Julie announced, suddenly looming over them, eyes wide with either strawberry daiquiris or delight. “I need to braid their hair.”

Alex blinked sluggishly. “No.”

Julie stuck her bottom lip out, eyes going shiny. For as balanced as she usually was, Julie was an emotional drunk. “Pretty please?” 

“Ugh.” Alex made a weird whining sound and wrapped his arms around Willie tighter. “Do you haf’ta?” 

She nodded seriously. “Willie has the longest hair, and Flynn already let me play with theirs. I just wanna French plait it and then you can have him back, I promise.”

Alex narrowed his eyes, but unwound his arms obligingly. He’d never been good at denying Julie anything. “You got fifteen minutes, Molina.”

“Il va commencer pleure si il n’a pas le contact physical pour plus de quainz minutes,” Bobby called, cackling to himself. 

“You’re not even fucking French, shut the fuck up,” Alex replied, sitting up enough that he could laugh at Bobby’s face, which dropped predictably. 

Reggie covered Bobby’s ears, shooting Alex a stern look that would’ve been vaguely convincing if not for the way his lips were twitching up at the corners. “Don’t tell him that, Alexa, we haven’t had that conversation yet.”

“Well maybe you should.” Alex kissed the top of Willie’s head and gave them a gentle nudge. “It’s not fair to keep him in the dark like this. You could give him an identity crisis. Your poor husband, living in ignorance.” 

Willie rolled off of Alex, stumbling to his feet once he’d gotten off the sofa. “M’kay. Where we going, Jules?” 

Julie shooed them to the kitchen chair that someone, probably Luke, had dragged in earlier. “Sit down, please.”

Alex watched as Willie did so and Julie started weaving sections of their hair together. He’d been trying to learn how to plait hair for ages, and he’d had some luck with normal ones, but the ones that built as they went, like Dutch and French braids, seemed to be beyond him. Julie, however, just kept twisting strands together with dizzying speed, a neat braid forming in her wake. 

“You gotta teach me to do that,” Alex announced, turning back to look at Luke, who, as usual, looked absolutely besotted. 

Luke didn’t even try to drag his eyes away from Julie. “No chance,” he said absently. “She's tried to teach me a million times, and every single time I just get caught up in…”

“ _Julie_ ,” Alex said at the same time as him, Bobby and Reggie joining in as well. “We know, Lukey.” 

Luke flipped them the bird. “Fuck off.”

“Tu ne prétends pas que tu n'es pas amoureux,” Bobby drawled, having somehow managed to slide down the sofa until he was mostly on the floor, face smushed into Reggie’s thigh. “C’est désespéré." 

Luke rolled his eyes. “tu es au moins aussi mauvais que moi, connard.”

Bobby shrugged. “Oui, et alors?” 

“C’est juste,” Luke conceded. “... does anyone else want pizza?”

“Always,” Reggie agreed immediately.

“Sounds good,” Willie added, flopping back down on top of Alex. They kissed his nose lightly, laughing when Alex went cross eyes to watch him. “Hey, begonia. You look pretty.”

Alex hummed faintly, feeling his cheeks burn even as he fixated on running his fingertip down Willie’s braid. “You’re prettier.”

“I know,” Willie sighed, shuffling down until he could plant his face in Alex’s chest. “You’re so lucky to have managed to get with me.”

“I am.” Alex nodded, tugging lightly on the strands of the braid to try and figure out how it worked. “I mean, imagine if _I’d_ made a terrible decision and married my high school sweetheart on my eighteenth birthday in Vegas? Bobbers was the only dude I dated in high school, and I’d be Reggie right now. Does it count? Wait, no, it doesn’t count, we dated for two weeks then kissed and Bobbit had an ace crisis and decided he wasn’t into blondes. So if I married my high school sweetheart I would _not_ be having a good time.” He waved an arm in the general direction of Bobby and Reggie. “As pretty as Bobster is, babe, you’re much more of a score.”

“Je vais aplatir vos poumons et les transformer en les flocons de neige d’eux,” Bobby said. Alex assumed it was a threat from the half-hearted glare Bobby was shooting at him when he tilted his head enough to look, and from the snort Luke let out, but the effect was ruined by the heavy slur to Bobby’s voice from a combination of the mug of single malt in his hand and Reggie’s fingers combing through his hair. 

“Please, you’re much happier with high school sweetheart number two,” Alex reminded him. “I don’t even count as your high school sweetheart, you’re just the only option I have for mine.”

Bobby tipped his head in acknowledgment, kissing Reggie’s knee lightly, “c’est vrai.”

Alex hummed and turned back to Willie, who was watching him with visible amusement. “I didn’t know you were a petty drunk?”

Alex raised both eyebrows, hands immediately resituating themselves in Willie’s hair, obsessed with the way the strands wove amongst each other. “Yes, you did.”

Willie giggled and pressed his face back into Alex’s chest like he wasn’t casually tearing Alex’s world to pieces and building it back up to centre more fully around himself. “Okay, yeah I did,” they mumbled, pulling back enough to grin at Alex as they tentatively dropped a kiss on his sternum. “College sweethearts is much cuter than high school sweethearts,” he informed Alex after a moment.

Alex nodded seriously, not entirely sure what direction Willie was headed in but too distracted by the way Willie’s face was less hidden with all of their hair pulled back, but still framed by a few delicate strands. “Oh, yeah.”

“I mean,” Willie started haltingly, tracing patterns over Alex’s torso, braid falling over his shoulder. “I’d seen you shitfaced drunk at least four times before I asked you out. Reggie and Bobby got married before they could legally get drunk. I was more aware of my choices.”

“Shhh,” Alex mumbled, exhaustion slamming into him as the vodka he’d drank seemed to skip the usual non verbal phase. “Don’t tell the shop owner we bought the absinthe off. He thinks we were twenty one.” 

Willie snorted and crawled up to kiss Alex’s temple lightly. “I forgot about you guys and your weird European families and your alcoholic tendencies. We’re still cuter.”

“Mhm.” Alex nodded, eyes fluttering open and shut. “S’much cuter.”

“Night, ranunculus,” Willie whispered, smushing their cheek against his briefly before shuffling back down to rest their head on Alex’s chest. 

Alex hummed and wrapped his arms back around Willie. “Night, sweetheart.”

v. 

“You guys were incredible out there,” Willie announced as soon as the five of them made it off stage, immediately standing up and holding their arms out for Alex to stumble into, legs shaky with a weird mix adrenaline and exhaustion. “You sounded great, baby,” he added quietly, guiding Alex’s head so his face was buried in the crook of Willie’s neck. “All those nights singing me lullabies paid off, huh?” 

Alex huffed a laugh, turned to kiss Willie’s neck lightly. “I guess so,” he replied, standing back up straight after a moment. “We did sound pretty fucking great, didn’t we?” 

“Fuck yeah, we did,” Luke whooped, throwing himself at Bobby, who somehow managed to catch him. “Jules sounded the best, obviously, but Allie, your drumming was fucking on point.”

“I did sound the best,” Julie agreed, falling back onto the sofa. “But you all made for a very wonderful backing track.”

Bobby made an offended noise that reminded Alex faintly of a parrot. “I was wonderful, fuck you very much!” 

“Of course, of course,” Julie placated, grinning. “I’m so sorry, Bobbit.”

“That’s what I thought,” he muttered, sitting next to her on the sofa with Luke still in his arms. 

Alex perched on the arm of the armchair and made grabby hands at Willie until they settled in the chair and let Alex lean against them, arm around their shoulders. “I was the best, right Willhelma?” 

“Oh, for sure, petunia.” Willie nodded seriously. “The very, very best. You’re my favourite of these losers anyway.”

“As I fucking should be,” Alex agreed, kissing the crown of Willie’s head. “None of these losers are letting you use them as pillows every night.”

“Hey, they might be,” Willie argued, grinning up at Alex lazily. He looked exhausted, probably from the hell that had been their drive up from LA, but he still looked incredible. Maybe even more so than normal. Alex didn’t know every single detail of Willie’s childhood, and from what he knew of his boyfriend’s preferences when it came to discussing those things, he knew it was doubtful that he ever would, but he _did_ know that vulnerability hadn’t ever been something Willie’s adoptive father had allowed him to show, and that even now, years after Willie had left home, months after he’d moved into the place Alex had gone in on with the boys and Julie, these moments of true vulnerability, where Willie’s eyes were half closed and their voice was rough and they weren’t paying even a lick of attention to whatever Reggie was prattling on about were rare, and Alex felt honoured that he’d been trusted with this much. 

“Nah,” Alex teased, twirling one of his drumsticks around his free hand. “You love me too much.”

“I do,” Willie agreed, resting his head against Alex’s shoulder. “Can we go to the hotel soon?”

“‘Course we can.” Alex started to card his fingers through Willie’s hair, jolting when Willie grabbed his wrist gently.

“Don’t,” they said, apparently oblivious to the internal panic alarms that set off in Alex. “I’ll fall asleep, and then you’ll have to carry me back.”

Alex relaxed, laughing and removed his hand obligingly, squeezing Willie’s shoulder instead. “I don’t mind doing that,” he promised. “But it won’t be long, now.”

Willie nodded, mumbling a faint apology when he yawned. “C’n I have your drumstick?” He asked after a minute sat with his eyes closed. 

“Sure?” Alex handed it over curiously. “You gonna play with it?”

“Nah.” Willie shook their head, twisting their hair into a rope similarly to how he’d done with the pen before sliding twisting the drumstick around it and sliding it vertically into his hair. 

Alex choked on his spit. “Holy shit.”

Something hit his forehead, and when he looked up, the four of them were grinning at him, making kissy faces and pretending to swoon dramatically.

Alex rolled his eyes and turned back to Willie, feeling his breath catch in his throat. It wasn’t just that Willie looked amazing with his hair up - he definitely did, and it still caught Alex out how much it was becoming something he loved - it was also that that was _his drumstick_. 

It was like the first time Willie had stolen Alex’s pink hoodie. In reality, there wasn’t anything special about the hoodie or the drumstick. He had somewhere in the region of ten hoodies - more like fifty, if you considered that the six of them didn’t really have distinguished wardrobes - and had gone through potentially hundreds of drumsticks since the first kit his parents had bought him when he was seven. Emotionally, Alex had been throwing his whole soul into drumming since the first time he’d held the shitty plastic sticks, and had been comforting the remains of himself by drowning himself in the huge pink hoodie his boys had saved up for since they’d given it to him on his fifteenth. 

Watching Willie find comfort in things woven so deeply with the things that made Alex _Alex_ was like watching Willie build a life with his family. It was like the first time Bobby and Willie had gotten home from a run together, jostling each other playfully as they slid into the stools at the breakfast bar in unison and grinned at Alex, like the first time Willie had sprawled out on their sofa without Alex there to reassure him, and Luke had simply taken that as permission and laid out on top of him, like the first time Reggie had instructed Willie on how to hug him without hurting him, patiently directing their hands to avoid their ribs and explaining how tight was comfortable, as though he expected hugging Willie to be a regular occurrence, like the first time Julie had come to crawl into Alex’s bed when her mind went crazy and she needed to sit with someone in the silence who wouldn’t try to talk her down, and not decided to try again in a few hours when she saw Willie was laying in bed with Alex, but had instead climbed in anyway. 

Alex didn’t know how to voice it, or really even how to describe how it made him feel in his own head, but a sense of peace or rightness or maybe pure fucking happiness flooded through him, making his veins feel gossamer thin and flooded with light. 

“You look beautiful like that, sweetheart,” he said quietly, kissing Willie’s temple.

Willie snorted, leaning further against Alex. “Even though I haven’t slept in thirty hours and have paint all over me?” 

“You think looking a little worn in is gonna stop you looking beautiful?” Alex asked. He looked across to Julie, trying to convey without saying anything for her to fetch Flynn and Carrie from where they were likely working incomprehensible media magic with the social media and important people who’d seen the show. “Really?”

Willie hummed, eyes closed as though the crack in their armour was too much to bear looking at, voice steady despite the undercurrent of uncertainty. “Maybe.”

“I love that you trust me enough to be tired around me. And I mean tired in the exhausted way, not like when it’s five am and I’m awake and you’ve decided that means you have to be awake even though you’re not a morning person. I’m… it’s an honour to have earned that trust, and it reminds me how much I love you. So I promise you’re still beautiful even when you’re tired, sweetheart,” Alex explained. “Now go to sleep. I’ll promise I’ll try not to wake you up on the way to the van.” 

“M’kay.” Willie shuffled until their head was resting on Alex’s thigh, drumstick digging in painfully, but not enough for Alex to care. “Love you.” 

I.

Willie wasn’t expecting Alex to grow his hair out, but he certainly wasn’t complaining.

It had started as something stupid - Reggie complaining that Bobby’s hair wasn’t long enough to braid, which would’ve been harmless on its own if Alex hadn’t inevitably joined in the taunting, which obviously led to Bobby snapping back, and the pair of them agreeing to attempt to grow their hair out. 

The results were fairly predictable. Six months later and Bobby’s hair fell neatly to just below his shoulders, and although he usually had it thrown up into a haphazard bun, Reggie was delighted with the free fidget toy, and was clearly very proud of himself for tricking his boyfriend into providing him.

Alex’s hair was a similar length, but he tended to just wear it down, preferring to stick a hat over it than bother to figure out how to tie it up quickly and to his preference. 

Again, Willie definitely wasn’t complaining.

Watching Alex stood in front of a mirror, attempting to recreate Willie’s drumstick trick with one of their paint brushes was, however, one of the most endearing things he’d ever seen. 

He wrapped his arms around Alex’s waist and kissed his jaw, then rested their chin on Alex’s shoulder. “Hey, bergamot. What’cha up to?”

Alex turned his to smile at Willie. “Hey, Williamstown. Trying to tie my hair up like you did with my drumstick, ‘cause I wanna paint the wall without painting my hair, but YouTube is clearly lying to me, because it’s not working.” 

Willie snorted and squeezed him tighter around the middle. “You’re so fucking cute, daffodil. Show me what you’ve got.”

Alex’s cheeks tinged a gorgeous shade of pink that Willie had still yet to identify, despite hours spent analysing the colour, but he obediently showed Willie how he was trying to twist it. He clearly hadn’t figured out how to slide the brush through the top of the hair to keep it in place. “See?” He asked once he was tone, turning in Willie’s arms until he could kiss Willie’s temple and then made a pathetic groaning sound and leant forward until his forehead was resting on Willie’s shoulder. “How do you do it?” 

Willie kissed his forehead. “Magic,” they teased, giggling when Alex whined. “Practice,” they relented after letting him wallow for a moment. “And also one of Caleb’s dancers showed me how a bunch of times.”

Alex sighed. “That’s so not fair,” he complained. “You’ve got a head start. And teachers.” 

“Oh, shush up, you big baby,” Willie said fondly, rubbing circles on his back. “I’ll do it for you, dandelion, go find a chair.”

“But I wanna know how to do it,” Alex insisted, standing up properly anyway, even though he kept his arms wrapped around Willie. “It looks so cool when you do it, and spinning my sticks has gotta get old, and Bobstard definitely can’t tie his hair up with a paintbrush, but _he_ can do French braids now, which _I_ still can’t, so I need something over him.”

“Spinning your sticks never gets old,” Willie reassured him, brushing a stray strand of hair out of his face. “But I’ll show you how to do it as I do it for you, okay? And I swear one day, we’ll get you through a French braid. You’ve got two of us to practice on now, anyway.” 

“That’s true,” Alex admitted, then kissed Willie quickly before running off to find a chair. He reminded Willie of a kid sometimes - either the goat kind or the human, it didn’t really matter, but likening Alex to goats made Reggie laugh - so excitable and enthusiastic when you knew how to handle him. For a while Willie had wondered how Alex fit in with the other three, who wore their childlike wonder and adoration for the world on their sleeves as openly as Julie wore her heart, where Alex came across…. maybe smarter, and little more composed, at first. Ish. 

When he wasn’t blue screening because incredibly attractive skaters asked him out.

Now that Willie got to see the inner workings of not only the group but of Alex, it was plain to see that asides their love of music and each other, the four of them were so close because they trusted each other enough to feel comfortable reclaiming the parts of their childhoods that they missed, to want to explore the world with wide eyes together, as though they weren’t intimately aware of the shadows and dangers lurking around every corner.

Reggie was open and honest in the way he demanded affection and attention like he’d never gone without it, and Bobby could be distracted for hours by something with pretty colours and moving parts as though he’d not learned to centre himself with equations and numbers, and Luke’s entire day could be improved by a gentle compliment which he accepted as though he’d never known anything, and Alex just wanted someone who took responsibility a little bit, so he didn’t have to, as though he hadn’t been self sufficient for longer than any of them had known him. 

It was harder for him than the others, Willie knew, when handing over responsibility felt so much like handing over control, and it always flooded his entire body with so much warmth whenever Alex proved that Willie was someone he thought could balance it. 

Willie had never been trusted with much as a kid, Caleb always far too much of a perfectionist and a control freak and a narcissist to let go of the reigns of Willie’s life long enough to teach them to hold them themselves, and having Alex let them in - having all of Alex’s friends, _their_ friends let them in - always felt like too much too fast, until Alex was stood in front of him, chair in one hand and Willie’s favourite paintbrush in the other, watching him expectantly like the notion that Willie could hurt him like that, when he was so vulnerable and open and about to sit with his back to Willie, could never possibly occur to him. 

“And you promise to go slow enough that I can learn?” Alex demanded, putting his the chair down so he could place his hands on his hips. For all his insistence that he was the tired elder sibling friend not the mom friend, he did a remarkable impression of Rose Molina. 

“Yeah, Acacia,” Willie turned Alex around so his back was to them, then pressed down on his shoulders gently until he sat down. “I promise I’ll show you how to do it. Can you pass me the paintbrush?” 

Alex handed it over as Willie started raking his fingers through Alex’s hair. “God, I should’ve let you play with my hair sooner, that feels awesome.”

Willie laughed and kissed the top of Alex’s head fondly, gathering Alex’s hair in one hand. “Yeah, it does. Now, I’m gonna twist your hair into a rope kinda, then the brush goes under, then you twist it, I usually go for twice because my hair is longer than yours, but you might be okay with once, then I’m gonna coil it into a bun, then slide the paintbrush through. The really important bit is to tuck the brush under the hair at the root as well as the hair in the bun, ‘cause that’ll hold it up better.” As he talked, he followed his own instructions, untucking a few strands at the front to frame Alex’s face. “You wanna get a mirror?” 

“I’ll take a photo later,” Alex dismissed, twisting back to look at him. “I just.” His cheeks turned a vaguely concerning shade of bright red. “When you did it - with my stick, and I know sticks and brushes aren’t the same thing - but when you did it with my stick it was like. It gave me the warm fuzzies like when you steal my hoodie. So.” Even as he spoke, his cheeks steadily darkened, ears and neck turning a blotchy pink as well. 

Willie hummed and nodded, a little caught up on how much Alex _needed_ to wear his hair like that more often. Once his words had caught up with them, they blinked. “I love you so fucking much, you dork,” they muttered, moving around the chair so they could haul Alex up to his feet and hug him tightly. “You’re so fucking cute, daylily,” he murmured, kissing Alex’s cheek.

“I love you too,” Alex replied automatically, and hugged them back immediately. “So… it worked?” He asked after a moment, nudging his cheek against Willie’s temple. “I look awesome and you’re madly in love with me?” 

Willie rolled his eyes, jabbing Alex’s shoulder half heartedly. “You looked awesome and I was madly in love with you anyway, idiot. But… yeah. It worked.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos are much appreciated if you enjoyed it :))


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